Poker news tagged with 'absolute poker'

Good news for the so-called victims of Absolute Poker, as a second round of payments for them had just been approved by the government.

Read more » $3.7M to be Returned to Affected Players from Absolute Poker Shutdown

It looks like that the co-founder of Absolute Poker Scott Tom had finally put an end to his long-running legal case with the U.S. government, and for sure the poker players who became victims of the fraudulent site will not be happy to know that he escaped with very little punishment.

Read more » Absolute Poker's Scott Tom Pays Fine, Sentenced To Only 7 Days In Jail

Last February, the co-founder of Absolute Poker has suddenly returned to the United States, who said he wishes to face the years-old charges made against him. Late last month, after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge, he will then be sentenced this autumn in New York.

Read more » Co-Founder of Absolute Poker pleads Guilty to Illegal Online Gambling Operation

Scott Tom has lived as a fugitive from the US justice. After almost six years, the 37-year old has voluntarily decided to go back to the US for his desire to "just get this behind him." He faces the charges of violating the Unlawful Internet Enforcement Act and was engaged in money laundering and bank fraud.

Read more » Absolute Poker Co-Founder Returns to the US to Face Black Friday Charges

In January, Ira Rubin pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with his role as payment processor for PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. He faced a maximum penalty of 55 years, but since he pleaded guilty many expected him to get away with a much lighter sentence. And so he did...

According to Bloomberg, Ira Rubin was recently sentenced to three year in prison and order to forfeit $5,000,000. Bloomberg also revealed that Rubin cannot participate in any business occupation related to payment processing or financial services once he's out of prison.

Blanca Gaming, the parent company of UB.com / Absolute Poker, has finally reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice! This means that all U.S. players with outstanding funds at UB.com / Absolute Poker can expect their money back soon.

In the agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice it says that Blanca Games will stop all games for money in the U.S. and that the authorities will help the company to pay back their U.S. customers outstanding funds.

Blanca games, UB.com and Absolute Poker's parent company, has just announced that they have been forced to let go of 11 pros. The affected pros are Joe Sebok (picture), Prahlad Friedman, Eric "Basebaldy" Baldwin, Maria Ho, Brandon Cantu, Tiffany Michelle, Scott Ian, "Hollywood" Dave Stann, Adam "Roothlus" Levy, Bryan Devonshire and Trishelle Cannatella.

It can't be fun for Blanca's management at the moment. They just had to let go of 300 employees in Costa Rica and now they have to let go of 11 US-based pros + they have received lots of criticism in the past week due to the bankruptcy rumors. However, according to a press release, the company is still in discussions with U.S.Attorney's Office to reach an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to facilitate the return of US players funds. So let's hope that all U.S. players will get back their outstanding funds soon.

A couple of weeks have now passed since FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice closed down 3 of the world's largest poker sites in the U.S. and charged 11 persons with running illegal online gambling operations. Black Friday happened over a night and turned the poker world upside down to say the least. Ever since Black Friday lots of rumors regarding what will happen with U.S. players outstanding funds have circulated on the web.

Read more » UB.com / Absolute Poker files for bankruptcy

ATTAN U. S. ATTORNEY CHARGES PRINCIPALS OF THREE LARGEST INTERNET POKER COMPANIES WITH BANK FRAUD, ILLEGAL GAMBLING OFFENSES AND LAUNDERING BILLIONS IN ILLEGAL GAMBLING PROCEEDS.

On Friday, the founds of online poker's "Big Three" was indicted by federal authorities. The founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker were indicted on charges of bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling. In addition more than 75 bank accounts used by the online poker companies (and payment processors) and 5 domain names was seized (restraining oders issued).

The allegations revolves around the companies trying to circumvent federal laws by tricking U. S. banks into processing payments after UIGEA was passed.

As of now both PokerStars & Full Tilt Poker has shut down real money play for U. S. Players. Players from other countries can however play as normal. PokerStars.com now redirects to PokerStars.eu.

PokerStars has issued the following statement (via pop-up in client):

"As you may have heard, we have had to suspend real money poker services to people based in the US due to legal developments there. The developments are confined to the US and do not have any impact on your ability to continue using our services. Please be assured player balances are safe. There is no cause for concern. For all customers outside the US it is business as usual."

"The PokerStars website has been moved to www.pokerstars.eu and our support e-mail address is now [email protected]. We apologize to our players for any inconvenience caused by this disruption. Please be aware that we are currently experiencing a very high volume of e-mails, so response times are delayed. We will answer player e-mails as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter."

Full Tilt Poker wrote in parts of their statement:

"Unfortunately, as a result of this action, Full Tilt Poker has decided that it must suspend "real money" play in the United States until this case is resolved. However, Full Tilt Poker will continue to provide peer-to-peer online poker services outside of the United States."

We at BRM will try and keep you updated during the day as events unfold.

Justice dept. official press release: http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/April11/scheinbergtalindictmentpr.pdf

U. S. players can as of now still avail our PlayersOnly & Bodog - no deposit offers.

Moneybookers NOT affected (UPDATED 16/4-2011 17.31 GMT):

Official statement from MoneyBookers stated the following:

"Moneybookers is not part of this investigation and have not been approached by any authority. As a general principle we never process transactions for online gambling purposes including poker for US citizens."

Onyx Cup - cancelled (UPDATED 16/4-2011 19.19 GMT):

According to Poker News a spokesperson from Full Tilt Poker has confirmed, that in light of recent events, the Onyx Cup poker series has been cancelled.